News release
Show goes on - as stars perform at home for Bedford Park Festival Online
Arts and business groups backing ‘Chiswick’s favourite fortnight’
This year’s ‘virtual’ Bedford Park Festival in June will feature ‘lockdown’ performances by a host of local stars. Phyllis Logan, Kevin McNally, Lucy Briers, John Rowe and Jeremy Vine are recording new radio plays for The Chiswick Calendar and The XV Theatre Company, and Eddy Marsan will give a dramatic reading on the Italian station LondonONERadio.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor is sharing her highly popular Friday Kitchen Disco videos with the Festival and top local musicians David Juritz and Sandy Burnett will give an illustrated Zoom talk on Bach. There will also be a ‘lockdown’ jazz concert by the Trio Manouche; wine tastings; the Open Gardens (in photo and video form); and another chance to watch the Festival’s poetry evening with the novelist Louis de Bernieres, filmed in 2014 by Chiswickbuzz.
The online Festival will take place from June 12th to 28th 2020 and event details are now available on the Festival’s website, with regular updates.
“I’m delighted that Chiswick’s arts and business communities have said ‘the show must go on’ and we are very grateful for their wholehearted and imaginative support” said Fr Kevin Morris, the vicar of St Michael & All Angels, Bedford Park. “If we can’t gather on the Green this year, we can bring the community together online”. The church has organised the Bedford Park Festival every year since 1967, in aid of charities and its own work in the community.
The Festival will be opened by Jeremy Vine at 11am on Saturday June 13th, as part of the ‘Green Days & Craft Fair at Home’.
The online Craft Fair will have over 25 exhibitors, and the ‘virtual‘ Bandstand will feature performances by Chiswick Theatre Arts, ArtsEd, Stagecoach Chiswick, Ballet4Life and ‘Alan the Milkman’s band’, The BATS of Ealing - all hosted on the Chiswickbuzz website. The fancy dress photos competition for children will be on the theme of ‘Heroes’ and there is also a ‘Football Skills’ competition instead of a five-a-side tournament.
On the same weekend as Green Days, the Bedford Park Summer Exhibition and Photographic Exhibition will take place on The Chiswick Calendar website. And ChiswickW4.com is sponsoring a ‘Spirit of Green Days’ competition, in which people can choose their favourite photo from the ’50 Years of Green Days’ online photo albums – or send in their own.
There has also been great support from local businesses. Major partner Savills is sponsoring the Festival itself and the Summer Exhibition, and Andrew Nunn & Associates is backing the Craft Fair. Horton & Garton is supporting ‘Artists Staying at Home’, which takes place the following weekend, and Whitman & Co is again donating a bicycle for a Cycle Zone competition. Other firms are in discussions about their own involvement.
“We’re particularly grateful to Chiswickbuzz and The Chiswick Calendar, without whose commitment and technical expertise we couldn’t have put on the Festival in this way” said Torin Douglas, the Festival’s partnership co-ordinator. “Many of the events will take place on their websites and they have also commissioned plays, talks and concerts”.
The Festival will raise money, as usual, for St Michael & All Angels Church and its three nominated charities: The Upper Room, which is based in W12 and works with the homeless, economic migrants and ex-offenders; WaterHarvest, which works with rural communities in India to harvest the monsoon rains and provide safe and sustainable water; and West London Welcome, a free drop-in centre for refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants who have settled in West London.
There will be charges for some events, but many are free, with people being encouraged to make donations online. There will also be a ‘Gifts & Promises’ silent auction and a chance to help choose ‘The Festival Hymn’, by making donations to mark the 140th anniversary of St Michael & Angels Church.
The Bedford Park Festival Online, including ‘Green Days & Craft Fair at Home’, takes place from Friday June 12th to 28th 2020, on a variety of local websites, hosted from www.bedfordparkfestival.com.
TD 31.5.20
If you’d like more information or photographs, please contact Torin Douglas:
m 07860 422992
